Schools of Magic dungeon traps (looking for suggestions as well!)

Arravis

First Post
Hey guys, I'm running a game in an abandoned school of wizardry and I'm setting up a series of rooms that were part of the graduation process for students (a group of 4th-5th level of so students). There are puzzle rooms for each school of magic and are meant to be more or less non-lethal, but can injure. For those interested its for the Forgotten Realms campaign and is a Narfelli school, that trained many demon-binders, thus their prominence in some of the traps.

Anyway, I'd love feedback, new ideas, edits, anything. Its still a work in progress and I'm not at all happy with the Enchantment one and I hadn't done the Conjuration one yet.

Abjuration: At the center of this room is an iron vat filled with a roaring fire (no obvious fuel) and a bronze key can be seen glittering at the bottom of it, additionally the door leading out of the room is covered in ice.
Clue: Turn your enemy into your ally.
Problem: Getting the key will cause severe burns and the keyhole is completely frozen over.
Solution: There are several ways to resolve this, but the easiest would be to cast the Absorb Elements spell (1st level), "You have resistance to the triggering damage type until the start of your next turn. Also, the first time you hit with a melee attack on your next turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the triggering type, and the spell ends", grab the key out of the fire, then go over to the door and release d6 points of fire damage on the keyhole, thawing it out.

Conjuration: ?

Divination: The room has a marble font filled with water.
Clue: Though the choices are many, magic often shows us the way.
Problem: The door leading out of this room has a hundred keyholes and the key is nowhere to be found.
Solution: Detect Magic: The glass key, which has the same refraction index as the water in the font, glows with divination magic and the locks glow with a variety of schools, but only one keyhole glows with divination magic as well.

Enchantment: A large demonic statue holds out a hand, a bronze key gripped in its fist.
Clue: Only those of perfect stillness will be awarded the key.
Problem: Statue does not release the key.
Solution: Hold Person on the person next to the demon.

Evocation: Atop a pedestal is a small chest covered in demon-scale.
Clue: Know the weakness of those you seek to control, lest they turn on you.
Problem: The demon-scale chest has no keyhole, hinges, or any opening. Attacks on the chest cause the chest to spew out a cloud of poison to all adjacent to it.
Solution: Acid, Force, Psychic, or Radiant damage destroys the demon-scale, revealing the key inside.

Illusion: One wall of this room is a mirror.
Clue: Lies and facades are tools: use them rather than be used by them.
Problem: No key is found in this room, but the reflection of the PCs have demonic features on them: glowing eyes, stunted limbs, a puss-filled eye, etc. Additionally, the reflection shows each of the PCs carrying a key on a leather thong around their neck.
Solution: Disguise Self too look like the reflection causes the key to appear on their necks.

Necromancy: Floating in the center of this room is a sharp looking knife.
Clue: The knife that does not draw our blood, bends to our will.
Problem: No key is found in the room.
Solution: False Life or any magical temporary hit points, that allows the person to cut themselves with the blade without causing injury to their primary hit points, causes the blade to fall apart, revealing the key within.

Transmutation: High on the ceiling of the room is a large round hole, which is filled with water, that seems to defy gravity. “Floating” on the surface of the water are delicate glass orbs. One has a stopper and an iron key is within, but the other orbs are filled with blue-white crystals. Deeper in the water, at the top of the water-filled chamber is a small keyhole.
Clue: Changes in your environment, might require a change in you.
Problem: A reverse gravity directly under the hole will cause anyone moving there to shoot up to the water, shattering the crystal-filled orbs, causing them to explode, freezing the water and damaging the PCs.
Solution: There are several potential solutions, but the simplest would be casting Feather Falling and falling into the water slowly enough as to not shatter the globes, allowing the PC to grab the key and “sink” up to the keyhole.
 
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dmsheldon87

First Post
This sounds really cool. Love the idea of giving your casters a time to shine.

Obviously you know your group better than I do, but I think some of the clues may be a bit too abstract, and the solutions may sometimes not have enough to do with the problem. Your casters don't have a whole lot of spell slots so unless you have a lot of rests planned, they're going to need to get each one right in like 3-4 tries. To me, that means the solution needs to have one component that is alluded to by both the problem and the clue.

The divination room is great: hundreds of holes but no key. The clue has the word "magic" in it. That will lead them to look up some divination spells, and hopefully find "detect magic." Casting that will reveal both the key and the right key hole. Evocation is also good: a demon-related chest that can't be opened. "Know the weakness" should make them start thinking of things that hurt demons. So maybe instead of acid, the solution could be radiant. The illusion room feels too open-ended to me. If you were to use "disguises" instead of "lies" in the clue that would direct them to Disguise Self, although they still wouldn't have any idea what to do with it. One hallmark of illusions is that physical interaction automatically reveals them to be fake. So maybe they reach into the mirror and it turns out one of the keys is real, or something like that.

Re: conjuration. Just off the top of my head, you could create a situation where the solution requires them to cross a barrier that they cannot physically cross. They will have to use mage hand, unseen servant, misty step, or something like that. Or a creature(s) they have to restrain or otherwise debuff with entangle, fog, grease, cloud of daggers, web, etc.

Re: enchantment. The general idea is to make someone do something they wouldn't otherwise do. So a demon who won't give you the key and they have to use suggestion, command, charm person, friend, etc. Or a boss with a minion, and the minion has the key. The boss won't let the minion give up the key but you can force the minion to fight the boss to the death with crown of madness, or force the minion to fight you with compelled duel.
 

Arravis

First Post
Your casters don't have a whole lot of spell slots so unless you have a lot of rests planned, they're going to need to get each one right in like 3-4 tries. To me, that means the solution needs to have one component that is alluded to by both the problem and the clue.
The party is level 13, the original school was designed for low-level characters who just graduated (level 4-5), so I'm trying to make it so that it would be reasonable for a group of wizardly students to accomplish it, but should be fairly trivial for our high level group (in theory).


Evocation is also good: a demon-related chest that can't be opened. "Know the weakness" should make them start thinking of things that hurt demons. So maybe instead of acid, the solution could be radiant.
Changed it so it applies to all the energy damage types that demons have no immunity or resistance to.


If you were to use "disguises" instead of "lies" in the clue that would direct them to Disguise Self, although they still wouldn't have any idea what to do with it.
A little to on the nose, but I did add the word "facade" it to give some further clues.


Re: conjuration. Just off the top of my head, you could create a situation where the solution requires them to cross a barrier that they cannot physically cross. They will have to use mage hand, unseen servant, misty step, or something like that. Or a creature(s) they have to restrain or otherwise debuff with entangle, fog, grease, cloud of daggers, web, etc.
Thats exactly what I had in mind... but I think by the RAW you can't cast through glass or clear barriers (I'm not 100% sure on this, a lot of mixed opinions on this, any clarification would be helpful). The other concept was using Fog Cloud to find an invisible pillar with the key (or lever, see below) atop of it. I was also considering the Conjuration Puzzle having two components, first the mage-hand or fog/cloud puzzle which will remove a barrier around the room itself, then inside is a ferocious looking demon inside a magic circle. Written in magic, as before, is some version of the following: "This fiend is bound to tell one truth and take a single action at your command." I am uncertain if I will allow one question/command per PC, one per Archaist, or simply one question/command period. The room has no key that the PCs can see nor does the door have a lock. To open the door, the PCs need simply command the demon to open it for them. The PCs will hopefully use their question to find the key, to which he will say that he is the key. I'd likely accept them simply killing the demon and using a body part on the door to open it.


Re: enchantment. The general idea is to make someone do something they wouldn't otherwise do. So a demon who won't give you the key and they have to use suggestion, command, charm person, friend, etc. Or a boss with a minion, and the minion has the key. The boss won't let the minion give up the key but you can force the minion to fight the boss to the death with crown of madness, or force the minion to fight you with compelled duel.
Suggestion to get a Manes or Quasit to do what you want isn't a bad idea... perhaps the key is an area covered in a cloud of poison (to which the demon is immune) and they can have it retrieve it. I'll give that one some thought.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help!
 

AnimeSniper

Explorer
Okay so if you are in a pinch there is this here http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/random/#type=trap;cr=CR 1 amongst other random generators for other theme and settings. The Trap Generator makes lists of both Mechanical and Magical traps for use in your dungeon... a Neat one is the Fireball Turret that lets say is hidden behind a false wall with a trigger plate or other to activate it.
 

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